Luke Wilder: Life Saver, Power Lifter, Cancer Survivor

Luke Wilder is anything but Wild.

The mild-mannered fourth-generation San Diegan is one of Helix’s tallest, buffest dudes. But he’s also one of the studio’s bravest.

An EMT by training, Wilder hopes to one day call a San Diego-area fire house his home base. First apprehensive about accepting Helix’s offer, he was a worried about whether his sex scenes could affect his future. “After a while my worry kind of wore off and I saw how many of these people were living their own lives, and kind of doing porn for fun,” he says. Wilder felt free to spend his time putting out the fires of lust in his bottoms with his own impressive hose. (It’s the most obvious joke in the world but I fucking had too. Had. Too.)

Our bi buff beauty explained that, in this day and age, no employer is going to search so hard as to accidentally dox your exploits. “People think, ‘I’ll go to apply to this job and someone will Google me and they’ll discover the porn.’ They are worried that the employer will be like, ‘Oh hey, I watched a porn film of that guy,’ and then the process will halt. But the more I looked into it, the more I found no one who is hiring is going to be that guy.”

Measured, researched responses are the Motus Operandi of this genteel, grounded man. Even in discovering his sexuality, Wilder never wandered aimlessly.

“All the people I hung out with growing up were athletes and jockey guys. And in my later teens I started to think, ‘OK, do I like boys?’ I would see one walk down the street and say to myself, ‘Oh wow, he looks great.’ Then I would go check it,” Luke says, setting the stage for his mindset. “I would Google gay porn and it would just be a bunch of jocks or whatever ripped studs would come up. And I’m not into Jocks whatsoever. I would just be like, ‘Nope, guess not.’ And once I dug a little deeper, I found I liked twinks and kind of the more not-so macho were my type of guys. I discovered that there’s a huge community around that type of preference.”

And, from the ‘scientific research’ this reporter has done, those twinks fantasize over Luke’s lickable abs. A body, he says, are a product of devotion to health and fitness. “In high school I was captain of the water polo team. I played goalie in the water. I was really athletic. I used to surf when I was younger a little bit just because my family did.”

But that athletic bath was soon derailed by some tragic news. At age 16, Luke was diagnosed with cancer. And, for a good year and a half, doctors instructed him not to overdo physical activity. “They told me like I couldn’t run, I couldn’t go swimming. I couldn’t go weight lifting. That was really hardon me as a teenager because I just wasn’t able to do what I enjoyed.”

Talking with Luke is like talking with someone with the maturity of a person twice his age. In part, because of how quickly he had to grow up after his diagnosis. But never once did his positive outlook falter.

“It was a pretty shitty time. But I am pretty optimistic. Honestly, if anything, my family was freaking out more than I did. I had a healthy dose of luck, denial, and, ‘Oh, everything’s gonna be fine.’” And in the end, Luke was right. “I’ve been in complete remission since about 19.”

After he got the news, Wilder went right back into his routine. “It was this miracle that had happened. I had just turned 19 and they said, ‘You can start swimming again.’ Literally that day I got home, I went to the gym, I hopped in the pool and I swam a 500.”

And swim he did. And swim some more, and lift, and adopt a lifestyle he hopes keeps him a healthy as is possible. “I’ve thankfully grown to be one of those crazy people that like, enjoys working out. I get the lifter high. That’s like when you’ve lifted super heavy and you’re listening to your music and you feel pumped and like most lifters are runners, you get kind of used to that.”

As for his future, Luke Wilder hopes to one day be riding a red engine. But for now, he’s happy to be riding tight asses and making them red. But whether it’s the fire truck or a furious fuck, Luke is thrilled to have the choice.

“I thought to myself like if I would be doing in, say, two years. I’ll be 25 and then I can still pursue what I’ve been pursuing. It really feels great to have all my options open.